Arsenal Tries New Tactic in Champions League: Counterattack

Arsenal Manager Arsène Wenger was more restrained in his celebration than his players after Mesut Ozil scored the second goal in a 2-0 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions LeagueCredit
Ben Stansall/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

LONDON — Arsène Wenger turns 66 this week, and there are those who wish him retired.

His crimes are that he is old, hopelessly idealistic and too reluctant to spend too much of the $300 million that he has helped Arsenal build up in the bank.

Wenger’s team is second in the English Premier League, and in the Champions League on Tuesday, Arsenal won, 2-0, to became the first club this season to beat — or even to take a point from — Bayern Munich.

A week ago, Wenger was confronted at Arsenal’s annual shareholders’ meeting about his stinginess after signing only one new player, a goalkeeper, this season. And at the pregame news conference in London he was quizzed — again — on when he plans to hand over the reins to a younger man.

He answered that he would spend only if he could find players better than those he already had. And that when he retired, he hoped the club would be in a better situation than when he arrived in 1996.

Disciplined intensity has rarely been the way you might sum up the 1,080 games that Arsenal has played under Wenger. Admitting (with a smile) that the victory was secured by playing a tight defense and catching the opponents on the break is even more unusual for Wenger.

And praising the goalkeeper — both goalkeepers in fact — might possibly be a first for the Arsenal manager.

Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller have been harder to stop than just about any other strikers in Europe this season, and Douglas Costa, Munich’s new Brazilian winger, has bamboozled many a defense with his combination of speed, sorcery and delivery.

For much of Tuesday’s game, Bayern looked like what it is: The most attack-minded, fluent and controlling team in soccer. And when Arsenal did break through, about 30 minutes in, Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was able to make a wonderful save as he dove low to his left to block a header by Theo Walcott from six yards out.

Had Walcott’s header been more decisive, the keeper might never have reached the ball. But then again, had Lewandowski shot earlier than he did late in the second half, then Arsenal’s goalkeeper, Petr Cech, would not have been able to race from his line and make a bold interception with his legs.

Fine keepers and thin margins can win games. Yet in the last 13 minutes, Neuer was beaten twice. The first was his own fault. By popular acclaim the best goalkeeper on earth, Neuer misread a high, swinging free kick from Santi Cazorla, pawing at thin air. Olivier Giroud swept in behind him to bundle the ball into the net.

The assistant referee beside the post did play a role in the second score. After a shot by Mesut Ozil, Neuer tried to scoop the ball away from his goal, but the official correctly spotted that it had, in fact, crossed the goal line.

So justice was served. Arsenal, using its rapid speed via Walcott, Alexis Sánchez and the adventurous young right back Héctor Bellerín, has found and honed a new winning tactic.

It is called counterattacking, and it has been alien to Wenger’s philosophy over much of his two decades in London. You possibly could thank Wenger’s assistant, the former Arsenal defender Steve Bould, for the change.

Guardiola, a younger coach than Wenger but one who shares the expansive ideals that soccer is best as a creative game, commendably did not blame his goalkeeper for the loss. “I am proud of my team,” Guardiola said. “I like to win, but we played with a lot of courage, a lot of personality.”

And of Neuer’s mistake? “Never have I criticized a player for taking a decision — correct or incorrect,” Guardiola replied. “This is football. We didn’t lose because of Neuer. In some aspects today we weren’t perfect, that is why you lose matches.”

Some Arsenal fans hope that Guardiola will step into Wenger’s shoes when the time comes. Guardiola’s contract with Bayern is up next year, and his one comment about the Arsenal position was, “I could never imagine having the energy to stay anywhere for 20 years.”

His work at Bayern is not yet done. He inherited a team that won the Champions League, the German league and the German Cup all in the same season, and the club is working on persuading Guardiola to extend his stay.

His team was so dominant at Arsenal that Munich had 70 percent of possession and made almost 700 passes, compared with 207 by the home team.

“Sometimes you score, and sometimes you have chances and do not,” Guardiola concluded. “That’s a mystery.”